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Remembering Tennis Legend Arthur Ashe

We remember the boundary-breaking African American athlete with an excerpt from a 1989 interview. Ashe died over the weekend from complications related to the AIDS virus.

12:47
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Other segments from the episode on February 8, 1993

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, February 8, 1993: Interview with Mathea Falco; Interview with Elliiott Currie; Obituary for Arthur Ashe; Commentary on rock music in 1973.
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10:01

How to Attack the Roots of America's Drug Problem

Sociologist and research associate at the Institute for the Study of Social Change, Elliott Currie. He has a new book, "Reckoning: Drugs, the Cities, and the American Future." He believes that effective drug control depends on curtailing poverty and improving the economy in inner cities.

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16:10

Arthur Ashe's Cowriter on the Athlete's Posthumous Memoir

Arnold Rampersad, professor of Literature at Princeton, biographer of Langston Hughes, is coauthor of tennis star Arthur Ashe's memoir, "Days of Grace." Ashe died this year at age 49 from AIDS he contracted during open heart surgery. He was the first African American tennis champion, winning the United States Open in 1968, and going on to capture three Grand Slam titles. He has remained a vital presence in the sport, and his autobiography features portraits of the great celebrities of tennis.

Interview
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27:26

Arthur Ashe: The Fresh Air Interview

Ashe was a boundary-breaking African American tennis player who won Wimbeldon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian open. He started playing the sport in the 1950s, when courts were still segregated. In 1979, heart bypass surgery cut his career short. Ashe now writes books about the history of the black athletes. His latest, a three volume series, is called A Hard Road to Glory.

Tennis player Arthur Ashe

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